Less shopping, less buying, less anxiety & ....

brugloverZ9July 9, 2008

...less hot flashes! Wow, I never thought that the side effect of simplifying would be a reduction in hot flashes.

When I was reading Elaine St. James book this morning " Living the Simple Life" I got to her area on watching for early warning signs of wanting to buy. To paraphrase, among them were " you feel a slight palpitation of the heart, the pulse starts to quicken, you feel a rush of adrenaline. Part of you wants to hold back and another part is reaching for your credit card."

The last few days I have been experiencing less hot flashes and was trying to figure out what I was doing differently, when I came across her words and thought...THIS IS IT !

Every time I hold a new object in my hands, whether it be something I am thinking of buying, or a gift from someone else, I ask: "Is this going to become clutter?" If the answer is no, it is allowed into my house.

After all the years I spent living with the misery of clutter, and all the work it took to get rid of the clutter, I don't want it back. I don't want to swap old junk for new junk.